Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has criticised “middle-class lefties” who are opposed to Labour’s plans for NHS reform.
He said Labour will make use of the private healthcare sector in order to reduce NHS waiting lists in a move which he conceded would prompt cries of “betrayal” from some quarters.
Writing in The Sun, Mr Streeting said: “We will also use spare capacity in the private sector to cut the waiting lists.
“Middle-class lefties cry ‘betrayal’. The real betrayal is the two-tier system that sees people like them treated faster – while working families like mine are left waiting for longer.”
Mr Streeting said the NHS “is a service, not a shrine” and if it does not change it “will die”.